Punia, who was a big part of the protest against former WFI President Brij Bhushan Sharan Singh, suffered a big loss of 1-9 in the semifinal match. bajrang punia and Ravi Dahiya, who both won medals in the Tokyo Games, were eliminated from the running for the Paris Olympics after losing their matches in the selection trials for upcoming international tournaments on Sunday.
Bajrang Punia left the Sports Authority of India (SAI) Centre feeling upset after being knocked out. Punia, who was known for speaking out against the former WFI President, faced a tough 1-9 defeat in the men’s freestyle 65kg semifinal against Rohit Kumar. Earlier, he barely won against Ravinder with a score of 3-3, decided on criteria.
If Ravinder hadn’t made a mistake in the match, Punia would’ve been out from the start. Punia left the SAI Centre quickly after being eliminated, not even staying for the third-fourth place match where the NADA officials wanted to take his dope test sample.
Punia had trained in Russia to get ready for the trials organized by the IOA ad-hoc panel. He won a case in the Delhi High Court arguing that the suspended Wrestling Federation of India (WFI) didn’t have the right to hold the trials.
In the men’s 57kg category, which used the Nordic format, the competition was always tough with both Tokyo Games silver medallist Ravi Dahiya and rising star Aman Sehrawat in the mix. Dahiya, coming back from injury, lost his opening match 13-14 to Aman, who has been performing well in recent tournaments. Dahiya then lost to U20 Asian champion Udit in the next match and got eliminated.
The winners of these trials will have a chance to compete in the Asian and World Olympic Qualifiers. So far, India has secured only one quota for the Paris Games through Antim Panghal in the women’s 53kg category.